Dutch Electric On-road Nationals Rd2 report

Last week-end was held the second round of the Dutch Electric On-road Nationals at the MACH Heemstede track. Here are the race reports from Rob Janssen and Richard Arts.

Race report from Rob Janssen:

The second round of Nationals was at Mach Heemstede, a big and popular track here in Holland. It is the World Championship Track where Jilles Groskamp took his World Champ title few years ago. Some good local drivers were also attending to this race which made a total off over 40 people at the track. For me Saturday was good, as after some runs the car felt pretty good. I did manage to set some good lap times early in the afternoon. Later that day some other drivers were getting closer and closer. This was confirmed as on Sunday morning the first qualification I did not finished first, but close second. With 2 of 3 runs to count (round by round) I had to do two TQ runs in the following two runs.

In Q2 it was close between me and Sybrand, but eventually after some small mistakes by him the gap was getting bigger and bigger and I did manage to finish first. So it all came down to run 3 to see who would have TQ. From the start I was in the lead and soon the gap was getting a little bigger. Sybrand noticed he was not able to beat me this round and decided to stop and save tires. For me the gap to the rest of the field was big enough to take it a little easier from that moment and also save some of my tires. Not full steering end of the straight, braking a little earlier. Fast enough for a TQ run, but also saving the tires a little.

First final was easy for me as Sybrand quickly made a mistake and I was pulling away from the rest. The second final Sybrand was under pressure from Richard which made that I could pull away a little every lap. Eventually Richard had not the pace to continue the pressure on Sybrand, but Sybrand also did not have the pace to catch me. So another win for me and also secured the win of the day as 2 of 3 finals do count. In the third Final I was able to pull away a little every lap and also secured a win in this round. Not important for the win of the day, but for the season title all results count.

Race report from Richard Arts:

The 2nd round of the Dutch Nationals was held at the MACH Heemstede track; a fast and flowing track, much different than the track we raced at the first round. The weather was beautiful and hot with 30-33 degrees Celsius. This year the Nationals are open to everybody, and a some fast local racer are participating. This is of course very nice for the level of competition, and hopefully they will join also in some of the other Nationals races.

The track and weather situation meant a lot of changes to the setup. For the practice on Saturday, Rob and Ronald were on a similar setup. and I was on an alternative setup. At the end of practice day it was clear that my setup was more than half a second of-pace compared to Rob and a few other quick drivers. So overnight I adopted the setup Rob was using, in the hope to be closer to the front of the field.

Sunday started with a practise round and I was able to get a feel for the new setup. Biggest difference was noticeable in the technical section, where I could drive more aggressively with the car still being very stable.

The qualifications went very smooth, without any big mistakes and improving my laptimes by more than half a second. As result of this I ended up on the 3rd spot to start the finals.

The first final I had a close race with Roy in the first few laps, but then I could maintain a gap of around 1 second for the remaining 5 minutes. Sybrand on 2nd spot made a mistake and ended up in the grass. Rob was able to pull away at the front of the field, and I followed in second place. At the start of the second final I was able to put some pressure on Sybrand but he was defending his position carefully and a small mistake made me lose ground on him. Behind me, Roy was caught up in a tight battle with Ronald and due to this I could
finish in 3rd spot. The last final of the day, I had more trouble. I went a bit wide and sideways in the first corner, and got collected, sending me in the grass. I managed to catch up with the back of the field, and after some close racing I managed to move up a couple of
positions, finishing 5th.

Throughout the weekend there was a very nice and relaxed atmosphere, and I’m sure everybody enjoyed the racing and the nice weather. Of course for me finishing 3rd was very nice, and for Team Magic in general with Rob 1st and Ronald 5th.